


Present Tense

by gyromitra



Series: Reaper76Week stuff [5]
Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: M/M, Word salad, day 5: Voice/Music, i do like horrific injuries but not dealing with them, reaper76week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-20
Updated: 2017-01-20
Packaged: 2018-09-18 16:33:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 551
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9393809
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gyromitra/pseuds/gyromitra
Summary: “Soldier,” Reaper hopes the warning resonates in his voice, but in truth he is completely aware it’s at most a tired irritation, because the man is still set on playing a vigilante, after all that time.“It’s just a simple in and out, Reaper.”Continuation of Memories (day 1) & Cooperation (day 3) & Past Tense (day 4)





	

“Soldier,” Reaper hopes the warning resonates in his voice, but in truth he is completely aware it’s at most a tired irritation, because the man is still set on playing a vigilante, after all that time.

“It’s just a simple in and out, Reaper.”

Last time he heard _someone_ say that, in that _exact_ _tone of voice_ , it turned out to be anything but. Soldier is merely an asset. A useful asset, but an asset nonetheless, and Reaper reminds himself of the fact, but then, when was the last time he made a rational and logical decision? So he sticks by.

“Knew you’d see it my way,” the vigilante grates him the wrong way, claws twitching with urge to beat some modicum of self-preservation instinct into the man even if he knows it won’t have the desired effect. It’s not the voice, but the words.

“I’m not picking your sorry ass later,” Reaper growls, keeping to the shadows and following on the rooftops, ghosting over alleyways. The man is capable of stealth – but not when he is playing – which is happening right now, a game of cat and mouse with Los Muertos.

The retort he anticipates, _would have anticipated from_ _someone_ , does not come and he can’t decide if it makes him glad – or even angrier – the lines between expectation and reality blurring.

Which is why he curses silently when he is too slow noticing the game changer, a civilian. Too late to interfere and scare her off and Soldier knows she is there, keeps her hidden with brazen display of sheer recklessness and idiocy, makes himself the only viable target, showmanship more befitting _someone else_.

Reaper can’t wait for the inevitable that comes too soon. A grenade. The hesitation that should not be there, _jarring more than ever_ , overcame in the last moment.

The nano-padding holds. There will be heavy bruising, pulverized muscle tissue, maybe ruptured organ from impact – no spinal injury, he can see already – but nothing that calls for immediate attention and can’t be dealt with later. But, god help him, _the flair for dramatics_. Reaper does not mind the voice, it’s the words, so he leaves.

“You look like an irritated hen, all puffy,” Soldier shakes his head, ripped jacket already off and hanging from the back of a chair.

“Do you even know how ‘an irritated hen’ looks like?” The vigilante draws together his brows and then, after a moment, shakes his head admitting defeat.

“Not really. Seemed appropriate.” A glimpse, for all that matters. Reaper finds himself shoving the man against the wall with enough force to make his head hit with a satisfying dull thud. “What’s gotten under your skin?”

No, _the voice is a memory_ the words do not fit. This is a memory of _someone else_ , of _some other time_ , replaying in the loop, haunting him, and Reaper lunges forward, cashing their mouths in a bruising kiss, claws digging into healing tissue dragging out a pained moan.

“Now, I figured,” Soldier licks his lips, ”we were never friends, but this, this is a new development.”

“Just shut the fuck up for once. Once.” And the kiss continues – because the last time he had made a rational and logical decision was years in the past.

_The voice is right, just not the words._


End file.
